Duck and Cover
Often, we can learn so much simply by watching nature at work. In this case, it is a harrowing, one-minute-seventeen-second trek of a momma duck and her ducklings crossing a busy highway in Toronto. Check it out (and go ahead and move to the edge of your seat as that is where you'll end up).
Wow. I'm exhausted just watching them. Kudos, momma duck. Well led.
I couldn't help but take away a few lessons that apply to our lives:
- Stick together. The team or family that sticks together is always better. Expect the "on-coming traffic" of life to blow you around and spread out those close to you from time to time. When it does, always re-find each other as soon as you can and regroup. Challenge is best met in a pack...er... flock.
- Follow the leader. Leadership isn't easy, but the leader exists for a reason ... to be followed. When followers blaze their own trails, dangerous things happen. The leader may not always be right, might make mistakes, and will need to change course from time to time, but keep following. Also, do what you can to encourage, sympathize, and understand your leader. You likely don't fully grasp all of the pressure and breadth of challenge that your leader is facing. A "quack" of encouragement from the middle of the pack always helps them.
- Go forward. Once you step onto a determined path (be it a project, company start-up,or family adventure), move ahead and don't look back. One lane deep (when you get buzzed by your first traffic), you'll want to run back to the shoulder, but regroup and push ahead. Pretty soon, you'll see progress and that will keep you moving.
- Keep your eye on the goal. Seemingly, this momma duck saw the orange cone as the beacon of safety and success. She seemed to keep that in her sights at all times. Amid the effort, fear, and chaos of the journey, it is easy to get distracted from the end goal. The vision of the "win" is what will keep you going when fear sets in. Run to it.
- Once you make it, take a swim. OK, I honestly don't know if momma duck and the kids went for a leisurely swim after their journey, but I sure hope they did. They earned it. The successes along the way (be they big or small) deserve to be surrounded by some celebration and relaxation. The next challenge will arrive all too quickly, so savor the moments of victory!
May your day be filled with adventure, perseverance, and the satisfaction of a journey well-traveled. Waddle on, my friends.